Alastor Moody and the Summoner's Curse
by Faelaern
Summary: Follow Alastor Moody in his first year at Hogwarts, long before he ever became known as 'Mad Eye'. What changed him into a paranoid, half crazed, scarred old man obsessed with hunting Dark Wizards. The answers lie within...


Alastor Moody And The Summoner's Curse  
  
"Anybody knows you can conjure anything by the dark of the moon." - Tori Amos  
  
Author's Note: Most of the locations and characters included herein are the intellectual property of J.K. Rowling, who is so much better at starting stories then I am that it's not even funny. (I'm never happy with my beginings. Once I pick up speed I like my stuff a lot more (though I'm still no Jo Rowling). Hope you enjoy!  
  
Chapter One  
  
Alastor Moody stood staring at the blank wall between platforms Nine and Ten at King's Cross Station. Shaking his head, he took another look at the ticket in his hand.  
"Let me guess," a friendly voice inquired. "You're looking for Platform Nine and Three Quarters as well?" Alastor turned to see a boy about his age with pale skin and hair lacker then raven's plumage. He was wearing old tattered clothes similar to Alastor's, clearly not coming from a family of means. His Wizarding accessories were on a truck next to him. Moody looked down to his own truck and smiled.  
"That's right. I'm guessing we're on the same train then?" he said.  
"Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock," the black haired youth said with a grin. Alastor made a conscious effort not to sigh with relief.  
"Well at least we're not alone then." He extended his hand.  
"I'm Moody, Alastor Moody." The young man accepted the offered hand, his handshake was strong and he bore the calluses of someone who knew the meaning of hard work.  
"Tom Riddle." he said by way of introduction. He gestured towards the blank wall.  
"The papers I received said to shut your eyes and run at the wall there." said Riddle. Moody nodded.  
"Mine as well. Your family's not here to see you off?" Moody asked, tentatively. Tom flinched and Alastor immediately regretted asking, it was clearly a matter of pain for his new acquaintance.  
"I was orphaned from birth, I have no family." he said gloomily. "I'm going to Hogwarts on a grant from the Ministry of Magic."  
"Hey you!" A plump older boy stood there, he looked twelve or thirteen. "Are you going to stand there chattering all day like a gaggle of little girls? Move it." Alastor took one look at the newcomer's expensive finary and laughed.  
"What are you going to do if we don't, rich boy? Cry to your mum? We'll go through when we're good and ready." Tom, for his part, looked embarassed. He stepped in front of Alastor, saying,  
"Sorry about that. We'll head on through," and hurried his cart forward towards the wall at a run. Alastor shrugged and moved his cart forward quickly as well, bracing for he expected crash. Instead he and Tom found themselves passing straight through the wall and appearing on another train platform, clearly marked "9 3/4". A great red steam engine was waiting for them on the platform, which was crowded with all manner of people in the strange clothing he had seen on his visit to Diagon Alley.  
"We'd best get aboard." Tom said. "The train leaves in five minutes." Alastor nodded, pulling his large trunk off the cart and dragging it onto the train. He and Tom found an empty car and put their trunks into the storage compartment, sitting down.  
"Why'd you let that tosser have his way back there?" Alastor asked. Tom gave him an incredulous look.  
"What was to gain from fighting him there? He's obviously a returning student, which means he knows more magic then we do. If it came to blows, he'd lick us in a second." Alastor frowned.  
"My mother was a witch, but she died shortly after I was born, so I was raised by my father. My father's a muggle, so he couldn't teach me magic. But he did teach me to never let anyone push me around." Tom smirked.  
"Wouldn't it make more sense to learn a particularly nasty curse and pay him back when he's not expecting it?" Alastor was shocked.  
"You don't mean attack him from behind?!"  
"That's not what I meant, but so what if I did? Come on now, a second ago you were all for giving him a pounding," said Tom  
"Another thing my father taught me...never attack from behind, it's a dirty, low down way of fighting," said Alastor Tom sneered at this.  
"And just where was your father at the train station, Alastor? I didn't see anyone there to see you off." For a second Alastor's eyes flashed with anger, but he bit back his retort when he remembered that Tom was an orphan.  
"I'm sorry Tom, I was being a git. It was stupid of me to talk about my father after what you said before." Tom nodded.  
"Accepted."  
They both sunk into silence until a lady arrived with the lunch trolly. There were a lot of exotic looking candies and beverages on the cart, such as they'd never seen before, but Alastor's father had already spent a lot of his savings on sending him to Hogwarts. Tom, of course, didn't have any money to spend either, so they waved her past.  
"You couldn't afford anything, either, or was that for my benefit?" Tom asked. Alastor shook his head.  
"My father's a slate miner, he had to dip into his life savings to send me to Hogwarts in the first place. I originally protested but...ah, I'm such a git, there I go talking about my father again. Sorry, Tom."  
Tom smiled thinly. "It's alright. You should be glad to have a father who cares about you. If I ever see *my* father, it'll be all I can do to keep from punching him in the face. Alastor blinked, surprised.  
"But I thought you said-"  
"Yes, I am an orphan. My father was a muggle, and really hated magic. When he found out my mum was a witch, he abandoned her, but she was already pregent with me." Alastor's jaw dropped in shock.  
"Sorry to hear that, Tom."  
"Yes, well, I fully intend to put my father's name behind me at Hogwarts. I'll do whatever I have to do to become successful." said Tom with a look of conviction in his eyes.  
"You've certainly got the right attitude. My d-er, I've heard that nothing can stop you what you've truly set your mind on something." Alastor agreed. Tom smiled.  
"Thanks, Alastor. I'll remember that." 


End file.
